Man booked for Occupy sex assault

A 28-year-old Minneapolis man has been charged with third-degree sexual assault of a woman, who was participating in the Occupy protest movement on Peavey Plaza during Friday's early hours.

Seth Matthew Mitchell, 28, is accused of assaulting the woman while she was lying on the plaza in a sleeping bag.

She said she was asleep when the man, who was a stranger, woke her up and sexually assaulted her. Police were called and the man was pointed out to them by the woman as he was walking away, according to a court document.

Sgt. Steve McCarty, a police spokesman, said it was not clear whether the suspect was part of the Occupy movement.

The Occupy demonstrations, which have focused on income inequality and home foreclosures, were centered on Hennepin Government Center plaza last fall.

But they shifted to Peavey Plaza this spring. Police prohibited protesters from sleeping on the plaza last month.

The mayor of a traditionally liberal Wisconsin city has ordered the removal of a cemetery's monuments to Confederate soldiers, saying the Civil War was "a defense of the deplorable practice of slavery" and "an act of insurrection and treason."